Railway-track construction



G. E. COPELAND RAILWAY TRACK CONSTRUCTION Oct. 13

4 Sheets-"Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 11, 1923 (5. E. COPELAND Oct 1 3 RAILWAY TRACK CONSTRUCTION 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 11, 1923 glwucmtoz 6500,06 Jana.

5. E. COPELAND I RAILWAY TRACK CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. jzyets-shut 5 L 56 f ve afia aeiarzd,

Patented Oct. 13, 1925.

PAT ENT OFFI-C GEORGE E. COPELAND, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHICl.

RAILWAY-TRACK CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed August 11, 1923. Serial No. 656,779.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. COPELAND, citizen of the United States, residing: at Springfield, in the county of Clar: and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Railway Track Construction; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a railway track construction.

One important object is to provide a\ means to support track rails which avoids the use of and overcomes the well known objections to wooden ties without sacrificing any of the advantages incidental to the use of such ties.

A second object is to provide a novel and improved means to resiliently support track rails, and preferably with such means utilizing recoil springs.

A third object is to provide a novel con struction which may be exclusively made of metal, and which will overcome the liability of the rails to spread to cause derailing of the rolling stock and so as to overcome the liability of fracture.

Another object is to provide a construc tion of track supporting means made in sections of such length as to be incapable of supporting the entire weight of the roll ing stock or car at the same time to insure sustaining of said weight jointly by a plurality of the sections.

Further objects are toprovide a construction of track which will lessen the wear on rolling stock, one which has cushioning springs orresilient qualities relatively to the rolling stock to travel thereover and one which reduces the amount of power required for propulsion of the rolling stock with a consequent saving in fuel.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the description following taken in connection with the accompanying drawings il lustrating practical embodiments.

In said drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved track construction at a section thereof show ing a rail in place;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the tie; Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view through the construction taken on the line of the recoil springs as at 3-+3 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view through the construction taken through the line of the weight sustaining spring as on line 4l-1 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the lower beam sections;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of the upper beam sections;

Figure 7 is a detail perspective view illustrating one of the supporting devicesfor the lower beam sections;

Figure 8 is a plan view of a modified form;

Figure 9 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 9-9 of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is a side elevation of the modilied form;

Figure 11 is a plan View of a second modified form, and

Figure 12 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 1212 of Figure 11;

Figure 13 is a transverse section on the line 1313 of Figure 12.

Like reference characters designate like or similar parts in the different views.

"in carrying out the invention, a plurality of track sections generally designated A in Figure 1 are employed to form the supporting means for rails B of the track.

Each section consists of a suitable supporting base as at C, lower beams D and upper beams E.

Base C may be of any approved construction. It may have transverse supports at 12 connected by longitudinal bars 13in any suitable manner. Bars 13 have supporting heads 14: thereon provided with inclined surfaces at 15. A connecting strap 16 may bridge and reinforce the longitudinal bars 13.

Lower beams D are inclined at 17 and rest directly on the surfaces so as to tend to right or properly position the beams especially if there is any tendency of the beams to move improperly as may be the case incident to wear. Said beams D in any suitable manner rest or are supported on the supports 12 and at said supports are preferably enlarged at 18. Positioning or abutment plates 19 to maintain the rail-support ing parts at the desired distance apart or in other words against lateral movement towards each other are rigidly supported on or integral with the supports 12 conforming to the extoriorshape of the enlargement 18 and in this instance being substantially arcuate. On the supports 12 anchor plates 20 are rigidly disposed and radiating therefrom and connected to the plates 19 are reinforcing rods or bars 21. In order to firmly support the base, as at the support 12, the same preferably rests on a concrete or other effective foundation as at 22. An-

. choring bolts or keys as at 23 may be passed through the anchor plates 20 into such foun dation 22.

The enlargements 18 are recessed and expansive coil springs of great resistance are disposed Within the recesses at 24. Spaced longitudinal flanges 25 rise from the lower beams D. If desired, links 26 may bridge the joints of adjacent beams E to form a hinge connection therefor, being pivoted to the beams as at 27 The upper beams may have annular depending collars 28 which extend intothe recesses of the enlargements 18. Said springs 24 extend into the collars 28 and are centered by means of pins 29 depending from beam E. Under depression, the beams E are normally cushioned by the springs 24 but under an unduly heavy load they are adapted to rest on the beams D intern'iediate the flanges 25 so as to be reinforced by said flanges. At 30 the beams E are preferably enlarged about the collars 28 for reinforcement.

Clamping or securing plates for the track rails 31 are bolted at 32 to the beams E. It is to be understood that the clamp or securing plates may be of any construction desired and of any suitable size.

Suitable plates '33 project laterally on the beams D and E and in the case of the latter may extend directly from or may be integral with the plates 31. Through the plates 33 vertical studs in the form of bolts 34 are removably disposed, with their heads preferably resting on the plates 33 of the upper beams 'E. The nuts of the bolts'34 are shown at 35 and intermediate said nuts and the plates 33 of beams D, retainers 36 are disposed for expansive coil springs 37. Springs 37 function as recoil springs to check the rebound of the rails after passage of rolling stock thereover.

In use, it will be realized that as rolling stock passes over the rails B, the incidental vertical movement required for effective operation is permissible in view of the provision of the springs 24. Under the load of the rolling stock, such rails B will descend as will also the beams E which carry them. The springs 24 are of course of a strength in excess of that required for the weight adapted to pass over the rails and thus will function effectively. \Vhen the beams E are in the extreme depressed position as seldom occurs and only under an extremely heavy load, they are received intermediate the flanges 25 and thus effectively braced. The rebound of beams E and rails B is checked by the springs at 37.

In actual practice, the length of the sections A will'be less than the length of a car of the type to pass over the rails B to insure support of the weight of the car by a plurality of thesections A rather than a single section.

It will be understood of course that all of the parts are made of metal, preferably steel and entirely avoid the use of wood in railway track construction.

As has been suggested, any suitable means may be used to secure the rails on the upper beams E and that the construction-of said upper as well as the lower beams and the foundation may be varied to better adapt the invention to practice or particular uses andrequirements.

In Figures 8, 9 and 10, a construction is shown utilizing a modified form of upper and lower beams. In this construction, the lower beam is designated 40 and the upper beam 41. The upper beam has a plurality of depending projections 42 disposed on op posite sides of a depending collar 43 of the upper beam. The lower beam 40 is recessed at 44 to receive the projections 42 and the base walls of the recesses 44 and lower edges of the projections 42 are preferably inclined as shown for coaction with the adjacent inclined walls so as to tend to right or properly position the beams especially if there is any tendency of the beams to move improperly as may be the case incident to wear. The lower beam 40 is further recessed at 45 and has a weight sustaining coil spring 46 therein functioning similarly to the springs 24. The spring 46 extends into the collar 43. Guard plates 47 to overlap the longitudinal edges of the upper beam 41 to position the latter and engage the rail are preferably secured to the lower beam 40 by removable bolts or otherwise as at 48 and which bolts pass through ears or projections on the guard plates and are se cured to beam 40 at 49. The railway rail is designated 50 and adapted to be disposed on the upper beam 41. This rail may be held in place inany suitable manner. To this endclamp plates 51 may be utilized to overlap the base flange of rail 50. A suitable number of fastening bolts 52 are provided for the clamp plates 51. These bolts 52 shouldusually be used in combinations of two, three or five according to positions but their number of course may obviously be varied within the spirit and scope of the invention. As shown, the plates 51, the upper beam 41 and the lower beam have bosses 53 through which said bolts 52 pass. In this instance, springs 54 are provided to function similarly to the spring 37 and are disposed on bolts 52 retained in place by mamas their nuts 55 and retainers 56. It will be realized that the up er beam under action of railway rolling stoc will yield similarly to the upper beam in the preceding construcfunctioning similarly to the spring 24, and

extending into the collar 62. The lower beam has its plurality of recesses 65 and 66 therein interrupted by cross members 67. The upper beam has depending projections thereon at 68 and 69 to respectively enter the recesses 66 and 65 and they have notches 7 between them to receive the cross members 67. Projections 69 extend below the projections 68 and their lower walls as well as the base walls of the recesses 65 are preferably inclined. Abutments 71 rise from the lower beams to engage the side walls of the upper beam to prevent displacement thereof. The rail or rails may be secured in place on the upper beam 61 in any suitable manner as will be understood.

It is to be understood that the illustrations are to be taken by way of example only and that in order to accomplish the various functions attained by the apparatus, changes in the construction, its combinations, and details may be resorted to.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is 1. A track construction consisting of a base, positioning members on said base,

means to mount rails engageable with said positioning members, an anchor plate on said base, anchoring means for the base extending from said anchor plate, and bracing means connecting said supporting members and anchor plate.

2. A track construction consisting of a base having longitudinally disposed bars, supporting heads on said bars, means on saidbase in engagement with said heads, and means to support rails from said beams. 3. A track construction consisting of a base having longitudinally disposed bars, supporting heads on said bars, beams disposed on said base in engagement with said heads, means to support rails from said beams, and said beams and heads having inclined coacting surfaces.

l. A track construction consisting of a base having supports, bars connecting said supports, supporting heads on said bars, lower beams on said base engaging said heads, the engaging surfaces of said supporting heads and beams being inclined, a connecting member bridging said heads, positioning members on said supports for said beams, anchorplates on said supports, bracing means intermediate said anchor plates and said positioning members, upper beams on said lower beams, flanges on the lower beams intermediate which the upper beams move, cushioning springs intermediate said upper and lower beams, ears on the upper and lower beams, bolts extending through said ears, and recoil springs on said bolts.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

GEORGE E. COPELAND. 

